


Broken Skin and Broken Hearts

by Sylphrena_Honors_Shardling



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo- Voltron [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Fairy Tales, Angst, Author found Bad Things Happen Bingo, Author was looking for Kidge prompts, Bonding Time, But on Regris' deathbed, But with an extra helping of angst, Gen, Guess which one Author went with, Hurt/Comfort, I gave Regris a family, Is it major character death if the character has 2 lines in the show?, Pidge is the best, Season 4: Episode 1 wasn't sad enough for me, and a very small portion of comfort, story time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 23:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29497836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylphrena_Honors_Shardling/pseuds/Sylphrena_Honors_Shardling
Summary: Regris survived the explosion on the mission. Keith and Kolivan drag him to the Castle of Lions to heal him. He doesn't make it.Prompt: Dying In Their Arms
Relationships: Coran & Keith (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Regris (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Mentioned Regris/OC
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo- Voltron [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166738
Kudos: 7





	Broken Skin and Broken Hearts

It was a simple mission, really. Kolivan would fly them in and they would get the information. They just needed three vargas. It would be easy.

Keith repeated that to himself as they snuck on board the vessel. He and Regris had been on several missions together, 7, if this counted. Their third person had been different each time. 

That was fine, because the two of them would be able to handle it on their own. Once Keith learned how to pose as a Galran Pilot, he could fly Regris in and be the one to guard him. It would be much easier that way, if he was being honest.

He wouldn’t leave Regris. He was Keith’s friend. He wasn’t going to leave him just because some third member on their teams said to.

Regris climbed in one of the access vents. They were guarded, of course, but that didn’t stop them. Keith snuck around behind the sentries and stabbed them with a little dart. The dart held a wonderful virus that had been utilized by the Blade for Deca-Phoebs. It would make the sentries reboot three Doboshes later while also erasing anything out of ordinary within the last 12 Doboshes. 

Regris started unscrewing the vent and climbed in. Keith waited for another few ticks before pulling the darts out of the sentries. It would defeat the point of erasing anything strange if there were little dart heads sticking out of them, after all.

It was times like these that made Keith jealous of having a tail. The ground level vents could only be closed from the outside, another thing that made it hard to infiltrate them. Regris had an opposable tail, though. He screwed the bolts back in before they continued on. 

They had to be quiet as they snuck down the vents. All soldiers in the Galra Empire were trained to investigate sounds. It wasn’t paranoia if there really were spies in the vents.

They made it to the command center. From there, they dropped in and made it to the computer. Regris started hacking and Keith moved to the door. He scanned around for any sight of movement. 

Alarms started going off. The self-destruct Alarms.

Sh*t.

Keith turned to look at what was going on. “I need 2 doboshes!” Regris called. 

He looked at the screen. 93 Ticks. They had less than 2 Doboshes to get off the ship.

“I’m dragging you out in 1.”

He continued standing by the door. He saw three living soldiers race past, heading to the escape pods. None of them even paused to look in the room. Good.

He glanced back at the number. 75. A Tick and a half. Regris’ hands were flying across the keys, speed matched only by the way his eyes moved around. His tail was completely still, which only ever happened when he was concentrating.

Keith pulled his blade out, just in case. It would be useful to have. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins. That was good.

50 Ticks. 

45 Ticks. 

“Got it!” Regris barked. Keith nodded and left the room. They needed to get to the nearest launch bay, which was about twelve doors down and to the left. They started running. He slipped his blade on its strap and Regris tucked the flash drive on his suit. 

A knife would only be a hindrance at this point. He had no idea how long they had left, but it wasn’t enough. He realized that when the door was closed. He used a burst on his jetpack to get some speed and hit the button to open the door. 

It started opening. He flew out. Regris leaped after him.

The ship exploded. Shrapnel and fire were everywhere. Keith had only barely registered that when he blacked out.

He opened his eyes. He was definitely hurt. Keith looked around. Where was Regris? He spotted him floating away in the direction of the ship.

Sh*t. He had to get to Regris and he had to get him on the ship. Hopefully Kolivan wasn’t too far away. 

He fired up his jetpack, speeding after Regris. He grabbed him, because it became clear that he wasn’t conscious. 

Keith refused to think that he was dead. He had to be alive. “Kolivan, requesting extraction,” he repeated into the communicator in his helmet. 

“Your request has been heard,” Kolivan replied in what Keith may have taken to be disbelief, if he wasn’t certain Kolivan was never surprised.

They continued flying to the ship and caught up with Kolivan. He opened the hatch and let them in. Keith flew to the med bay. 

Kolivan met them there. “Is he alive?”

“I don’t know.”

Kolivan gave him a look. Keith was unsure what was in that look. It was less lecturey than he expected. He continued looking at Regris.

He pulled the flash drive out of Regris’s pocket. “Here,” he passed it to Kolivan. “We got the intel.”

He checked Regris’ pulse first. That required him to take off the helmet. Keith saw him take a large breath of air when the mask came off. He nearly cried from relief. 

Kolivan moved to the other side of Regris. They scanned for injuries. 

It wasn’t good. 

It was really bad.

“I’m going to call Coran and the Castle of Lions. We need a healing pod.” Keith excused himself from the room. Kolivan was going to start surgery. Regris needed stitches in four different places. He also needed two pieces of shrapnel removed. 

Keith knew that he wouldn’t make it if they didn’t get to the Castle on time. He hailed the Castle of Lions, waiting for them to accept contact. 

“Ah, Keith! There you are. There was an attack, but we got it handled. Shiro flew in the Black Lion for you and Voltron was formed.”

Those sentences were an emotional rollercoaster, even though it felt like he was witnessing them from afar. He was incredibly relieved to hear Coran’s voice. He also felt terrible that the team got attacked when he wasn’t there. He was proud that Shiro had managed to fly the Black Lion for them.

“Oh. Great.”

“The team is a bit upset,” he started, calmly delivering the facts. Keith felt like his insides were twisting. 

Like Regris’. Keith had seen how his insides were twisted. They were all over his suit.

“We need a pod,” he interrupted, before shrinking in on himself. He… shouldn’t interrupt someone else.

Something flashed on Coran’s face. “Are you hurt!?”

“No…” he looked down. He realized that there was a tear in his suit and that it, too, was covered in blood. The pain caught up. He groaned. “Yes. But Regris needs one.” 

“What is his race?”

“Galra and Shinon.”

“Well, this will be a bit experimental, but we should be able to heal him.”

Keith looked up again, right into the video. He knew there were tears leaking out of his eyes. He didn’t care. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Coran smiled kindly before ending the call. Keith took a shaky breath. He repeated the process a few more times. When he felt like he could keep going, he stood and walked back to the med bay. 

Kolivan had already stitched up two gashes by the time he got back and was removing one of the pieces of shrapnel. He helped Kolivan stitch Regris up. He would need to keep as much blood as he could, so it was important that he stopped bleeding. 

By the time they finished stitching up Regris, Keith realized that he felt weak. He remembered the gash in his side. He remembered the pain. 

He stumbled to a chair and started taking the top part of his suit off. Kolivan gave him a painkiller and sterilized the wound. 

He started stitching the side and Keith tried not to cry. It hurt. It hurt a lot, but if he started crying, he wouldn’t stop. He buried his head in his arms and waited through the pain, letting it burn.

He had either fallen asleep or passed out, because the next thing he knew, he was at the Castle of Lions. Kolivan landed the shuttle and opened the door. Keith pushed Regris’ stretcher to the infirmary.

He looked at Regris’ pale face. It shouldn’t have been pale. It should have been a light purple. It should have been tinted darker because he was blushing at the mention of Ka’Rhie. It should have been lively.

His eyes should have been open. They were closed.

His ears should have been twitching. They were still, like his tail, back before the ship had exploded.

A wave of anguish came over him. He should have gotten him out. Regris shouldn’t have had to suffer. He should have been safe.

Keith should have dragged him out at 1 Dobosh, like he said he would.

He watched as they stuffed him in the prepared pod and closed it. He stayed there. Shiro came by to offer comfort, but he hardly noticed. He might have mumbled something about getting food later, but he eventually discarded that idea.

He wasn’t going to leave Regris. 

The others stopped by to convince him to do things. He couldn’t remember what. Eventually, Hunk brought him a bowl of something he was going to optimistically call soup and told him to eat it with the provided spoon. He did.

He continued waiting. He sat down. He woke up hurting later, but he didn’t leave. Coran was muttering over by the data pad, which was never good. 

He walked over. He was met by Shiro. Shiro grabbed his shoulders and directed him to the nearest couch. He collected blankets and pillows. He forced Keith to lay down.

Keith was too tired to fight. Too numb. He slept.

Shiro was there when he woke up. Shiro hugged him. Keith felt a wave of emotions crash back into him.

He was angry. He was so angry. He didn’t know why, but he was angry. 

He was relieved. Regris would be fine, they got him to the Castle of Lions. He was safe. His team was here. He could be safe.

He felt scared. What if Regris wasn’t okay?

He was tired and wanted to just feel better.

Keith let go of Shiro. “Thanks,” he whispered.

Shiro let go. “You’re welcome,” he smiled.

Shiro walked out, leaving Keith alone in the room. He stared at the ceiling, letting the memories sink in.

Regris, hacking as the bomb counted down.

Regris, running behind him.

Regris, his limp form floating in the void of space.

Regris, covered in blood.

Regris, his face so pale and empty.

He scrubbed tears from his eyes. He tried to think about other things. Tried to think about happier memories with Regris.

He tried to think about his wedding, which Keith had been invited to. He tried to think about Ka’Rhie and how she had officially joined the rebels. He tried to think about how Regris had been blushing at seeing her in the suit.

He tried to think about how he had been grossed out seeing them kiss. He tried to think about how it reminded him of Shiro and Adam. He tried to think about Adam. 

He tried to think about anything other than the fact that Regris was hurt. He tried to think about anything other than the fact that it was all his fault.

He gave up and walked back to the infirmary. Coran was there, looking exhausted. 

“We need to talk, Keith.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

Coran looked him in the eyes. “The pods can’t save Regris. There’s nothing we can do.”

Later, he would remember what Coran had explained. About how the pods could not fix the damage faster than his body was being damaged. About how there had never been a Shinon in the Castle before and so they had no data. 

“No! He has to live!”

Coran wrapped his arms around him. “I’m sorry Keith. There’s nothing I can do.”

“He has family! He has a sister! He has a wife!” he sobed. “Regris told me that he wanted to have kids! Please, you have to be able to save him,” he pleaded.

Coran hugged him tighter. 

He cried. Coran held him. “We contacted Ka’Rhie again, but she will not be able to get here for another 7 Vargas. We can’t keep him stable until then.”

“He’s supposed to live,” Keith whispered.

Coran took a shaky breath, nearly in tears. “You are right. He should be able to live. But we can’t fix it.” 

“He… he has to find his sister. They got separated. He’s looking for her.”

Coran really was crying now. “Then I guess you have to find her. But we only have 2 vargas to do anything. We have to act now.”

“What do you mean?”

“If we get him out of the pod, he can say goodbye.”

“But…”

“He will die, Keith. If we don’t take him out within the next two vargas, he will fall into a coma that we won’t be able to wake him up from. It will only take another 3 vargas after that before he dies.”

Keith tried to take that information in. He hadn’t saved Regris. He had just drawn out his death. He had brought him to the Castle of Lions to die.

“Ka’Rhie gave us her permission to wake him. I would like yours.”

Keith felt conflicted. Regris would want to say goodbye, even if it was painful and short. He knew that. But maybe they could still save him! There had to be something they could do!

“I… there has to be something we can do,” he protested weakly.

“We are not on Altea, my boy. And none of us are doctors. I am not sure he could have been saved even if we were there.”

That seemed to break them. They wept for a few ticks. “Okay, let’s get him out.”

THe two of them went to stand by the pod he was in. Coran started typing on the screen, overriding earlier commands. They stood until the pod had defused the drug to wake him up. The screen went down and Keith caught Regris. 

He carefully dragged him over to the cot. He laid him down along it. He looked… terrible. He wasn’t physically bleeding, the pod had healed all the external wounds, but he was still pale. He was covered in bruises that Keith knew weren’t there before.

He was waking up, though. He opened his yellow eyes and groaned. “Wha-”

While he tried to breathe, Keith explained what had happened. “We’re in the Castle of Lions. The ship exploded as we left and you got badly hurt. I convinced Kolivan to take us here and get you in a pod.”

“I thought those healed you? I’m not-” he coughed, “very healed,” Regris announced weakly.

“You’re not,” Keith agreed. He took a deep breath, “You have too many injuries and not enough blood. The pods can’t heal you. Ka’Rhie and I… decided to let you out and have a chance-” a new wave of tears crept up. He didn’t hold them back.

“A chance to say goodbye,” Regris finished for him. 

Keith nodded. Regris pulled him into a hug. They stayed there for a few minutes, listening to each other breathe and trying to think about something to say.

“I have a set of boxes, back at base. Get them to the right people, ‘kay?”

“I will, don’t worry.”

Regris smiled at him. “Tell Ka’Rhie that I love her, that I’m glad that we got to meet.”

“I wish you could tell her yourself,” he replied glumly. He wished that Regris could have more time, a few more vargas, if not the years he should have. He wished that Regris could find his sister, like he wished Pidge could find Matt.

That got him thinking. He couldn’t give Regris more time. He could get a way for him to say something to Ka’Rhie, though. 

“What are you thinking about?”

“You can make a video, you can tell her yourself!” Regris blinked at him in confusion. Keith turned to Coran, who was at the other end of the infirmary. “Can you get Pidge to bring her datapad in? And maybe a few blankets?”

“Why, yes, Number 4, I sure can. I will be back faster than the sneeze of a ghaxipilla,” he called as he saluted. He marched out the door. 

Regris blinked after him. “I-” he coughed, “I thought you were exagerating. He really does speak like that. What even is a ghaxipilla?”

Keith shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t think that one has come up in any of his stories of Altea.”

“Can you tell me one?”

“I guess. Um, there’s a cool one from before they had space travel. I think it’s a fairy tale, or something. I can tell you one of ours after.”

“Sounds good,” whispered Regris.

“Well, thousands of years… deca-pheobs ago, there was a war. This was back before even continental travel, a war between two tribes. They were the Zellans and the Trila. Lorin was a man born in the Trila tribe. He was clearly different, having the pale hair and a blue eye of the Zellan tribe. He faced hardship and trial growing up, but became a well trusted man through his hard work. 

In fact, he became a spy. He was sent to Zellina to infiltrate their systems. He moved to one of the towns and learned how they lived. He watched their children grow and be sent to fight.

He moved to different towns frequently for the first few years, keeping a trail of places he had been. He settled down in the capital, the city of Hyruldi. However, Lorin was noticed and got conscripted into the army after a fierce Trila attack.

Though he had been trained as a spy, he was unprepared. He found himself fighting for his life many times. Each time, a general would come by and save him. He was different from the other generals, and it took Lorin deca-pheobs to realize that it was because she was a girl. She was the fiercest fighter among them and just as loyal.

Althea encouraged many to throw their misogynistic ideas out the window and down the drainpipe. She also showed many how cruel the war was. She learned each soldier in her company's name and mourned them all. She taught Lorin to do the same. 

Lorin began questioning his orders. He had been sent out as a boy, really. After 5 deca-pheobs, he had learned much more about the world. He decided that he wanted the war to end. But he didn’t want either side to loose.

He talked to Althea about that, who felt betrayed that he had been a spy the whole time. She did not turn him in or kill him, though, and heard him out. Together they schemed. They would end the war. They would end the massacre.

They went to their kings and called for a treaty. They spent pheobs convincing them to give it a chance. The letters were sent and people were called to represent each other. On the night of the signing, the youngest princess of Zellina was assassinated.

Their king was furious, having just lost his precious daughter. Talks turned to arguments, which quickly turned to fights. They lasted for quintants. A movement later, it was revealed that the princess was alive and that unless a ransom was paid, she would actually be killed.

Having seen her dead body, the others were confused. Lorin and Althea decided to find her and bring her back. It was in finding the young princess, not quite an adult, that they realized their love for each other.”

Regris snorted.

“Do you want to hear the end of the story or not?”

“Carry on,” he replied with a small swish of his hand.

“That’s what I thought. Anyway, they went back to the meeting house and brought the princess to the kings. They decided that since both a Trila and a Zellan could work together long enough to save the princess, they would sign the treaty. 

They celebrated the treaty and everyone lived happy lives.”

Regris frowned at him. “Really?”

“No, there were at least 7 assassination attempts on both Lorin and Althea. Their only daughter was kidnapped at 12 and lost for 5 deca-pheobs. And Althea died in childbirth, like an alarming number of Altean women.”

“That’s terrible.”

“You asked.”

“I expected another set of adventures-” he started coughing again and didn’t stop. After nearly a dobosh, his hand came away red. There was blood on his lips. 

It was then Keith realized that Regris really was dying. There would be no last minute save. There was nothing that would miraculously heal him. Regris was going to die and nothing could stop it.

Coran entered then, carrying a stack of blankets. Keith helped Regris wrap up in a few, keeping him warm and covering the bruises. He didn’t really want Pidge to see all of them and he knew that Regris wouldn’t want Ka’Rhie to see any. 

During the shifting and wrapping of blankets, they sat Regris up. Pidge walked in. “Hello, I am Pidge, the Green Paladin of Voltron. Keith’s told us a bit about you, Regris. He even showed us a picture of you once, which was impressive. I never get to see physical pictures anymore. I thought Earth was the only planet that did those for a while. I’m glad to know it’s not. Congrats on the wedding, by the way.”

Regris tried to smile at her, but it came out as a grimace. Keith blinked at her.

“I’m rambling, aren’t I?” Coran patted her shoulder in sympathy. “Well, we should get that video started. I don’t want to interrupt your bro time.”

She walked closer and started pressing different buttons on the keypad. Coran twirled his moustache, “You should be good to go in 20 ticks. Think through what you want to say.”

Regris nodded. He took a deep breath as Pidge held up 3 fingers, then put one down, and then the other. 

“Ka’Rhie, I want you to know that I love you. I will always be grateful-” a cough, “for the time we spent together. I am glad we could fight together and will never regret what we have done. It has been an honor-” a small coughing fit, “to fight by your side.” 

Pidge ended the video and Regris took that as permission to continue coughing. Keith tried to help, but could only do so much. Pidge was shocked by the amount of blood coming from Regris.

She moved forward to help, but Coran laid a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head. She stepped back and let tears fall.

Keith supported Regris until the coughing stopped. There was too much blood. Regris wiped some from his mouth. “Thank you,” he said.

Keith nodded. “Whatever it is, I would do it again. Thank you for taking care of me.”

“It was an honor-” he continued coughing up blood, still fighting on, “to fight,” he paused, “by your side, brother.” Regris smiled.

And damn it all, he smiled. Keith tried to smile back. “It was an honor to fight by your side, brother,” Keith repeated. He wrapped him up in a hug.

Regris closed his eyes. He didn’t open them again. Holding his friend, nay, brother’s dead body, Keith finally cried.


End file.
